


Christmastime with Kids

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Morning, Christmas Presents, Christmas Tree, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 09:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12932202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)Day 5 of the 25 Days of BAU Christmas. <3





	Christmastime with Kids

“Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!” Jake, David, Chloe and Lily pushed the door open and jumped onto their parents, still sleeping after staying up late eating “Santa’s” cookies. 

Matt smiled in his half-awake state, pulling the covers over himself and Kristy. “Five more minutes.”

“But it’s Christmas!” Lily screamed, sitting her tiny, 40-pound body on his side. “It’s time for presents and looking at the tree and pancakes!”

Kristy began to stir, almost ready to get up, but Matt wanted to tease the kids for just a few more minutes. He so rarely got these uninterrupted times at home, so he wanted to take advantage of the little moments. “But Daddy’s sleepy,” he mumbled into the pillow. When they were a little older, he’d get to sleep in a little - at least he kept telling himself that.

“Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!” The children started to chant causing Kristy to giggle and push herself up. Despite the messy hair, she still looked beautiful, and their children were all happy and healthy; he couldn’t have felt more blessed. 

Just as he was thinking about how truly lucky he was, Kristy started to chant too. “Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!” They were his job.

“Alright, I’m up!” He laughed, grabbing his girls, one under each arm and and squeezing them tight. Standing up, he stretched out and got ready to bolt. “Last one downstairs doesn’t get any pancakes!”

Kristy just rolled her eyes. He really was a giant child. 

JJ and Will had been up late doing…things, the night before, so they were both startled awake by the boys banging on their bedroom. “Mom! Dad!” Henry called. “Michael is crying! He thinks Christmas isn’t coming because you won’t get up! Get up!”

Immediately, JJ bolted out of bed, with Will close behind, and ran into Michael’s room. “Hey, little man. Christmas is already here! Mommy and Daddy were just tired.” The three year old stopped crying, sniffling just a little bit as he looked at his big brother.

“That’s what I told him, but he wouldn’t believe me!” Henry already looked exasperated. At nearly 11 years old, he was starting to get to that age when dealing with a little brother was trying, but since it was Christmas, the tired parents could tell he was attempting to hold back his irritation. “Will you believe me next time Michael?” He nodded, his hand still holding the blanket that he was using to dry his tears. “Good, do you want bacon and waffles now?” That he was interested in.

While JJ and Will trailed closely behind, hand in hand as they walked down the stairs, Michael and Henry hurried downstairs by the tree. Henry sat at the table, but Michael had other ideas. There was a pile of presents from Santa and he needed them now. “Michael, why don’t we have breakfast first?”

“Yea, I’m hungry,” Henry laughed. His stomach growled just at the right moment as if to scream ‘feed me.’ 

JJ looked between her boys. Christmas should be celebrated how people were comfortable and considering the age gap between them, it made sense to start doing things slightly differently. “How about we bring out the camera and you and I can take turns filming Michael and cooking breakfast for Henry? Then when Henry’s done eating, he can have the camera all to himself.”

“I like that idea,” Henry said, smiling at his mother. “You know how much the camera loves me.”

“You’re such a ham, boy,” Will laughed as he ruffled his son’s hair and brought out the waffle iron and a pan to fry the bacon. “You take the first turn with Michael, JJ.”

“Ready to open your first present?” JJ asked, watching as Michael impatiently waited for permission to open his first gift. 

Suddenly, the wrapping paper went flying.

Matt didn’t even try to sit down. He just ate pancakes right off the griddle as he passed them off to his kids and wife. “Is everybody full of pancakes now?” He laughed. The boys had chocolate chip residue all over their lips, and the girls resorted to each with their hands. But they all seemed content. “First things first, everyone needs to wash their hands and faces.”

“Otherwise Santa’s gifts will get all covered in chocolate,” Kristy laughed. 

It took a little bit longer for everyone to cleaned up than Matt had imagined, but that was Jake and David’s fault. They thought it would be fun to use the removable faucet on the sink to spray their parents, sisters and each other, so they all needed to change into dry clothes before opening their gifts.

As was tradition, Matt brought out the camera and handed his first gift to his wife. Mom always got to open the first present. “Matt it’s beautiful,” she said, staring down at the top. It was a brilliant white, cashmere cardigan. “It’s so soft. It’s amazing. I have no idea how much you spent on it.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell you,” he laughed, putting the camera down for a moment to lean over and kiss his wife. “Alright, each of you take one gift from the pile and wait for me to film. I want everything on camera.”

Once the children had a gift, they all went crazy, ripping the wrapping paper to shreds and throwing it in the air. It was almost like a cartoon, where the paper came down slowly enough to block their reactions to everything. “It’s a football!” Jake cried. He’d been wanting a professional one for a while now. David liked soccer more, so it was a soccer ball for him.

Little Lily loved basketball, always admiring the women she saw on tv, so Santa brought her a basketball, and last but not least, Chloe unwrapped a sketchpad and colored pencils, an avid drawer since the day she could hold a pen. “Okay, the next presents you open, you all need to chill,” he chuckled, “I wanna see your faces when you open them.”

As the four kids lunged toward the pile of gifts again, Kristy beamed. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Yea, me either,” Matt replied.

“Only one more present from Santa, little man,” Will said as he pushed the final package toward his youngest son. Michael had had entirely too much fun opening gifts, but he nearly had as much fun playing with the wrapping paper. As the paper went flying one more time, Michael’s face lit up. 

“Rocket ship,” he whispered, his eyes sparkling like the stars. It was an impulse buy. A $100 inflatable tube that was painted to look like a space ship and big enough for him to sit inside it. He’d been obsessed with space lately, so it seemed like a good bet. “Can I play in the rocket ship?” He lisped. 

“Of course you can. Daddy just needs to set it up,” JJ laughed. “Now Henry, it’s your turn.” The older child rubbed his hands together and ran to sit at the base of the tree. Unfortunately, a classmate had ruined the illusion of Santa for him the year before, but when he came home, he asked if that meant that she and Will had bought their gifts. When she said yes, he replied with, “That’s even better because that means you bought it with your own money. Santa just gives gifts to everyone, but that means that you and Daddy did it especially for us.”

JJ couldn’t have been more proud of him. “Remember,” she whispered, “”Since you’re older, your gifts are a little more expensive so there are less of them.”

“I know, Mom.”

Reaching over, he grabbed the first package and ripped the paper open. “It’s a rocket ship model!” He exclaimed, showing his gift and enormous smile to the camera. “Maybe Uncle Spencer could help me build it.” Ironically enough, Uncle Spencer was the one to tell JJ to buy it; he did know his godson well.

One by one, the gifts were opened and cherished. They’d bought him a few smaller things, like the model set, a nerf gun, and a basketball hoop for the back of his bedroom door, and two larger gifts. The first one he’d opened was a Star Wars lego set of the Millennium Falcon. Spencer was definitely going to want to help with that one. “Last one, Henry.” 

He rubbed his hands one more time, flashed the camera a cheesy smile and grabbed the final gift. It was in a giant box. “What could it be?” The year before, they’d bought a PS4 for the family, so this year they got him his own special chair. It was $150, but the look on his face was worth it. “Wait! Wait! Does this chair have speakers? I can use it to play my video games?”

“That’s what it’s made for,” Will said, as he put the final touches on Michael’s new rocket ship. “It’s really comfortable. I sat in one of them at the store before.” Henry hastily ripped the box open and dragged the chair out.

“Oh my god, this is amazing!” Henry ran into JJ’s arms and whispered, “thank you,” before going to do the same with his father. “I’m gonna go play games now!”

The opening of gifts was always over far too quickly, but every year, that hour or so was worth all the aggravation, money and time spent. A little later on, they’d be heading to JJ’s parents house for dinner, but for now, the house was quiet save for a few shots going off from Henry’s video game, and the giggle of their three-year-old, already on his way to space.

“Alright!” Kristy said, trying to project her voice over the chaos of a house with four children. They’d already opened almost all their gifts. “Each of you has one gift left. Jake, you first.” 

In an instant, the paper was on the floor. It was like he was The Flash or something. “It’s a skateboard! Can I outside and play with it?”

“In a few minutes,” Matt replied, “and you need to put on a coat. It’s cold outside!”

“Okay, I’ll go get changed!” The oldest boy ran up the stairs at the speed of light. Next was David. 

The younger boy’s eyes lit up. A set of connectable, giant foam blocks. He could make a fort with them. “I’m going to play with this now,” he said softly, turning the package away from his parents and little sisters. “I’ll be in my fort.”

Finally, were the twins, Chloe and Lily. Lily was their little tomboy. “Basketball?” 

“It’s a hoop for your room!” Kirsty said happily, pointing at the picture. A small play hoop could sit in her corner of their room, and she could shoot hoops until her hearts content - and she was old enough for a professional hoop. “You like?”

Lily nodded and turned to her father. “Can I put it in my room?”

“Once Chloe opens her last gift, I’ll help you.” That seemed to be enough, because she sat back and stared at her sister. 

Chloe had gotten almost all art-related gifts, and this last one was no different. In addition to loving art, she loved animals, so when Matt saw a giant paint by numbers in the store of elephants in the wild, he knew he had to buy it for her. “Elephants are my favorite!” She cried as she opened the package.

Matt spoke under his breath. “Score one for dad.”

While Chloe ran to the table to start coloring, Kristy and Matt picked the slew of wrapping paper up off the floor. After dropping it off in the garbage can outside, they both got changed so they could watch Jake play with his new skateboard. “Another successful Christmas morning, I’d say,” Kristy said softly, leaning her head on her husband’s shoulder. “They’re already getting so big.”

“True, but that’s the great thing about Christmastime. It doesn’t matter how old we get. When Christmas comes, we’re all kids again.”


End file.
